


3:36 A.M. (conversations by starlight)

by stardusting



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Late Night Conversations, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-27
Updated: 2018-07-27
Packaged: 2019-06-17 02:08:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15451047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardusting/pseuds/stardusting
Summary: Allura looks more vulnerable hunched under a blanket with both hands wrapped around a thermos with a sky full of stars a backdrop, less like a princess (a queen technically) of a displaced race of people that fought a war and helped bring hope to the universe and more like a tired college student or something similar. Like she’s a girl with too much on her plate and not enough time to do everything, but she’s going to try anyway. The war may be over, but there are still battles to be fought and things to do, Keith knows.





	3:36 A.M. (conversations by starlight)

**Author's Note:**

> me, whenever i see keith and allura on the screen together: *cries in bisexual*
> 
> honestly!!!! you can read this as them either being sorta romantically involved or them being like qpps. i just wanted some good keefs and allura talking to each other
> 
> sorry for any mistakes i am posting this at 2am im so tired

It's three in the morning and Keith finds himself awake, woken up really by a feeling he can't quite place but ultimately doesn’t question. He hasn't been sleeping the same since he came back to Earth— quicker to wake, longer to properly rest, perpetual nightmares and sleepless nights. As if the war being over doesn't mean he'll be granted peace of mind, not really, not completely. It's normal they tell him, tell _them_ , as if his situation was normal to begin with: half-Galran and having fought in an intergalactic war with a sentient robot that helps make a bigger robot and joining a group of resistance fighters.

He's home and it's easier now even though his shack may feel empty on most days. Keith has gotten better at keeping in touch with people. It's not just Shiro and Adam making sure he’s fed and properly cared for; it’s Shiro and Adam still, sure, but it’s also Lance with weekly calls and daily messages and Hunk with his care packages and Pidge with her updates and Krolia with her surprise visits and Puck who hasn’t left Keith’s side since finding her in the Abyss.

It’s a permanent sort of _there_ that Keith still hasn’t properly gotten used to, but he’s grateful for it either way.

It’s three in the morning and Keith should probably go back to sleep, but he feels restless now. Not in the way that he feels like he should do something, but in a way that leaves his mind louder than a deafening silence, so sleep is a futile venture now. It’s quieter in the shack than it ought to be anyway, so Keith slides out of bed and heads to the kitchen, letting the floorboards creak under his weight while Puck’s claws clicking against the flooring as she follows behind them.

By the dim light of the kitchen, Keith starts the kettle for tea. There’s no one to blame but Hunk for his new almost addiction. Hunk who taught Keith how to make his own blends and told him the benefits of each type and all sorts of tea related things in a voice of causal knowledge and patience that Keith has always admired him for.

While Keith spends the few minutes needed to tend to the tea, Puck teleports in a flash of light he’s long since grown used to by now and is back by the time Keith has the top screwed onto the second thermos.

“One sec.” he says and slips a discarded hoodie over his head and grabs the throw blanket off the back of his couch before leaning against Puck’s side.

He’s gotten used to the sensation of being teleported and the others have gotten used to him and Puck just showing up hence the barest reaction he gets from Allura when they settle on the roof beside her.

“I made you some tea.” Keith says by way of greeting, dropping down to sit cross-legged next to her. Puck immediately resting her head against his leg once she’s able.

“Thank you, Keith.” Allura turns and says, blue eyes bright in the dark and freckles and Altean markings glowing softly against her skin.

He hands her a thermos, fingertips brushing as he does so. She’s not wearing much despite the chill of the desert at night, just an old tank-top of his and a pair of joggers long enough to pool around her ankles and over the tops of her feet so it must be a pair of Shiro’s.

There are more markings on her arms: circling her wrists and hovering at her elbows. Keith’s been meaning to ask what they mean; if they mean anything at all. He supposes they might be since Allura and Coran both are usually covered from neck to toe in the presence of company that isn’t comprised of people he knows they trust.

“Sorry if I woke you.” Allura says after a silence filled with her screwing off the top and take a few sips of tea.

“You didn’t.” Keith shrugs and feels like he ought to say a bit more. “You okay?”

Allura turns her gaze back up to the sky and smiles, small and neutral. It’s easier to see her expressions now that her hair is cut shorter, the ends brushing the curve of her jaw. One less thing for her to hide behind.

“I’m fine.” She insists, but Keith isn’t completely convinced since she tends to visit when she’s missing his company or needing a break— usually a combination of the two. “Just a bit restless is all.”

Keith hums and lets her have it though, taking a sip from his own honey sweetened tea to keep from answering. He won’t push for the truth because he tends not to do that, and Allura has decent enough grasp on her emotions that she’ll say what she needs to him when she’s ready and not a moment sooner. Keith can respect that.

“It can get a bit quiet out here.” Keith says instead and adds: “Cold too.”

Allura laughs, a sound that still reminds of him of the wind chimes Keith helped make when he was young, and his father was still alive.

“I like it. It’s peaceful.”

Keith doesn’t point out that she can get _peaceful_ anywhere if she really wanted especially now that the Galra Empire doesn’t have control over the universe. He knows the desert gives a certain kind of calm that can’t be found anywhere else— a sort of harmony with its quiet. He hands her the throw blanket instead, a gift from Mrs. Holt when she realized how little bedding Keith actually had.

Allura looks more vulnerable hunched under a blanket with both hands wrapped around a thermos with a sky full of stars a backdrop, less like a princess (a queen technically) of a displaced race of people that fought a war and helped bring hope to the universe and more like a tired college student or something similar. Like she’s a girl with too much on her plate and not enough time to do everything, but she’s going to try anyway. The war may be over, but there are still battles to be fought and things to do, Keith knows.

“I should be grateful,” Allura starts again, voice carrying as easily as wind through the cool night air. “the war with Galra Empire has ended, I have found more of my people, you all are home, Altea will be built anew.” She breathes out through her nose, a sharp sigh. “I can’t help but feel selfish sometimes. Not truly unhappy but…”

“It’s still not what you expected?” Keith offers when she trails off, eyes her with a curious tilt to his head. Puck snuffles in her sleep against him.

Allura curls her knees closer to her chest, turns at Keith and gives him a smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “Yes. It might have been foolish of me to think that after everything was said and done it’d go back to being the way it was before. Altea still there and my father waiting for me to come home.”

“I get it.” Keith says immediately because he does; it’s been years and Keith still sometimes thinks his dad will come home again one day. But he knows when some people leave they can’t be followed or found.

“You lost a lot.” Keith continues, brow furrowed as he carefully picks his words because this is important. “You woke up ten thousand years in the future and so much had changed. I don’t think anyone would blame you for wanting something familiar from your past to hold onto.”

Allura nods, smile wobbling and eyes made brighter by the collection of unshed tears. She doesn’t cry at that moment, but the tears glisten against her lashes like drops of starlight when she blinks.

“Not like I can go around saying that though.” There’s laughter that follows, sardonic in tone.

“You’re not a robot, Allura. You’re allowed to be sad and feel things.”

“I have images to uphold still. It wouldn’t do anyone any good if I looked like this all the time.”

“Okay,” he relents a little because he gets that too. “but I don’t care how you look and the other paladins don’t either and Coran definitely doesn’t. Hell, I don’t even thing Kolivan would care too much at this point.”

Allura sniffs and looks amused, scoots the few scant inches she needs to get closer, and gently knocks her shoulder into Keith’s own. “Glad to know I don’t have to keep the decorum around you guys.”

Keith huffs a laugh, gently knocks their shoulders together in retaliation, but keeps them pressed together. Allura’s one of the most tactile people that he knows, and Keith doesn’t mind the idea of another person’s touch tonight.

“You being royalty loses its edge when I’ve seen you covered in food goo and heard you say fuck at least twenty different times.”

She laughs her bell laugh again, hair brushing against Keith’s cheek when she moves. “I suppose you’re right. I am allowed to drop some social graces around you all.”

“Just learn to take a break.” Keith hums and drops his cheek against the top of Allura’s head to ground her in place and prove his point.

It’s three in the morning, closer to four now he supposes. Keith is awake when he should be asleep with Puck resting on his knee and Allura resting against his shoulder. His life hasn’t been the same since he left Earth and came back years older and wiser and a battle-weary soldier. Things have changed, but it’s peaceful in the desert still; a type of quiet where a princess turned queen can watch the stars and _feel_ in the same way Keith does because he knows what it’s like to lose and never get back, to miss those long since gone.

It’s quiet and peaceful in the desert a sort of calm better shared with someone— this, Keith is starting to relearn slowly, surely. 

**Author's Note:**

> this was supposed to end with keith telling allura about earth constellations but idk man it got sadder than originally intended so maybe next time. i just wanted them to have Deep Talks in the desert and just trust each other and enjoy each other's company. anyways i really love these two interacting and i hope i did them some justice bc theyre my faves.


End file.
